Course Description:
This is an interdisciplinary course that draws upon approaches from
feminist theory, anthropology, cultural criminology, and legal
studies to discuss topics in sexuality and the law. We examine
sexuality and its regulation in a range of contexts --legal and
illegal, local and global, physically interactive and
technologically-mediated. The three books we read are U.S. centered
ethnographic accounts that grapple with the issues pertaining to how
sexual orientation shapes the everyday lives of people who identity
as gays/queers; the shifting borders between desire and deceit in
the phone sex industry; and child pornography as a criminal internet
subculture. Discussion of these topics will reveal how the personal
and cultural values and experiences we associate with sexuality and
the law are shaped by globalized political and economic forces and
their attendant communication technologies. We will maintain a
critical double focus on the substance of these topicsthe ways of
life that these topics invoke--as well as how such topics are re-
situated in social science, legal, and mass-mediated discourses.
Methodological dilemmas will arise in the context of our
conversations.
Please note: Perticular topics and books are subect to revision.
Required Texts may include:
Amy Flowers. 1998. The Fantasy Factory: An Insideršs View of the
Phone Sex Industry. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Philip Jenkins. 2001. Beyond Tolerance: Child Pornography on the
Internet. New York: New York University Press.
Kath Weston. 1998. longslowburn: sexuality and social science. New
York: Routledge.
Class meeting: W, 5:45-8:15
Instructor: Professor Stephanie Kane, criminal justice department